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Kim Dotcom's New MEGA Encrypted Cloud Storage: See No Evil, Store No Evil

Controversial file storage tycoon, Kim Dotcom, is launching his new encrypted cloud storage site MEGA in the U.S. tomorrow (note: link not currently active.) The service will offer 50GB of storage for free and three Pro tiers of 500GB to 4TB for $13-$40 a month.

The new service comes a year to the day from when authorities raided Dotcom’s New Zealand mansion and shut down his previous site, Megaupload. That site was notorious as a haven for pirated materials, but Dotcom maintained his innocence and charges against him were dropped.

Dotcom is clever and MEGA is designed both to compete with cloud storage giants like Dropbox, Google Drive, and RapidShare—and also to insulate itself from future charges. The difference that makes a difference is that all files are encrypted using a 2048-bit RSA key. (See a detailed writeup on Ars Technica for more details.) What this means effectively is that Dotcom cannot be accused of knowingly storing copyrighted materials because he cannot technically know the content of the files stored on MEGA—only the user who uploaded the files and/or possesses the key can.

As you can see in the screen shot below (from the Ars Technica article), you can provide links to your files (either containing the key so someone can access them directly or by providing them with the key separately) but you are prompted with a caution about not transmitting the keys through insecure channels and a far-reaching copyright warning. Although users typically do not read these warnings and will undoubtably use the service to store unauthorized copyright material, they cannot be said to have not been warned. Dotcom is betting that the combination of encrypted content and explicit warnings should be enough to keep his new service out of trouble.

In an exclusive interview this morning in the Guardian (UK), Dotcom tells reporter Toby Manhire, ”We want to show the world that we are innovators. We want to show the world that cloud storage has a right to exist. And, of course, when you launch something like this, you can expect some controversy. The content industry is going to react really emotionally about this. The US government will probably try and destroy the new business … you’ve got to stand up against that, and fight that, and I’m doing that … I will not allow them to chill me.”

He maintains in the interview that the case against Megaupload was politically motivated in response to the failure of the SOPA legislation in Washington. The process has made him change his perceptions of America. In his early days as a hacker, he says that he “thought of [himself] as more American than Americans… I always had this attitude of can-do, and if you’re successful you can show it, which is a very un-German thing.” But after his prosecution he claims, “ a much better understanding now of how the US government operates and how much spying is actually going on, how much privacy intrusion is the reality today … we are very close to George Orwell’s vision becoming a reality.”

As for the entertainment industries approach to controlling piracy, Dotcom thinks they’re missing the boat. ”There’s so much money to be made, and those fools don’t get it,” he says. “They just don’t get it.” He sees himself as both pro-freedom and pro-business. It’s just that the business he sees is different than, and disruptive of, the Hollywood model. One of the perplexing things about Dotcom is that it’s as easy to paint him as a rogue as a revolutionary.

Dotcom does not accept the hacker’s black hat, however. ”I’m not evil, you know? I’m a good guy,” he says. “Everyone who knows me likes me … they should really come to the table, come to their senses and work this out. Because I’m not going to cave in. I’m going to fight this thing. And there’s no way in hell that they have any chance to win this. I don’t see it. I don’t see it because I know I’m innocent, and the lawyers know I’m innocent, and we have right on our side.”

The questions for MEGA are multiple. Will Dotcom be able to dodge takedown attempts? Will users find the encryption scheme too cumbersome? Will MEGA disrupt not only the entertainment industry but also the cloud storage market? Whatever happens, like the name and Dotcom’s own person suggest, it’s going to be big.

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Quote from the Guardian interview: “Dotcom said that US prosecutors’ pursuit of Aaron Swartz, the Reddit co-founder and activist who killed himself last week, mirrored his own treatment. While reluctant to discuss the details of the Swartz case, he identified ‘similarities in the way we have been prosecuted: over-reaching abuse of power, no due process – just completely insane, both of our cases’.” Kim Dotcom prepares to unveil new Mega site

I think similar words were spoken amongst the Aristocrats of France in 1780s. Also, the Sheriff of Nottingham would’ve said the same things, in 14th or 15th century, when he was talking about Robin Hood and his band of merry men.

The problem isn’t stealing, the problem is the whole idea of “intellectual property” is a farce. Idea’s aren’t scarce. If someone copies your idea you don’t have less ideas. So to equate it to stealing is simple minded anti-intellectualism that Americans of all stripes are famously known for throughout the world.

Reality check, big corporations are stealing from us and no one is doing anything about it. In the UK, the energy companies have been failing to pass on the lower rates of wholesale gas prices as they are required and no one has done anything about it.

Supermarkets were shown to be monopolies and bad for the consumer as well as using dirty tactics to prevent competition, and no one does anything about it.

Monsantoe continue to sue successfully farmers for having fields which are contaminated with GM crops (even when it has been shown that this was contamination and not deliberate sowing of the GM seed).

I wont even go into detail about the financial sector, cause if you are unaware of how we been robbed by this sector you are living in a different world.

Big business is bad business for consumers, the economy and the world.

Although he does have a point . Much of the sturm and drng comes from an industry with political clout ( Every Pol want to be an Actor or god help us a singer ) that has restricted and controlled its product access and wants to extend that control from an inefficient cartel chain to a modern day efficient one and load it with the same inefficiencies and drive up additional profit.

The age gap in understanding ‘ Internet pipes etc ‘ to today’s and the next generation is beyond belief .

What has happened to the US justice system in this endeavor is indeed a joke .

Aaron we honor what you tried to do in our name, quid est , indeed and ‘ Go .com ‘with all the metaphors fully loaded .

Reality is american businesses and their lackeys in government created this response due to the centuries of theft of the public domain. I seriously doubt the people who wrote the constitution would have agreed to the endless extension of copyright that has occurred over the last 100 or so years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

Quite frankly given the outright illiteracy and ignorance of the american electorate regarding government enforced monopoly (which is what copyrights and patents are).

Trying to say big business needs to protect themselves when they themselves are the purveyors of criminality on enormous scales having robbed the worlds people of cultural works for over a century is quite the comedy gold mine.

The idea that Sonny bono’s of the world need perpetually enforced government monopoly is hilarious. Businesses and certain celebrities are “pro free market” for the little people but protectionist nanny state crybabies when it comes to protecting their illegally gained profits through the theft of the public domain through direct or indirect control of lawmakers.

When criminal businessmen and their cronies make laws that violate human decency and sense of fairness no one should expect those laws to be respected.

The idea that american businesses need more monopoly privileges is the last thing any sane historically literate person should be supporting, given the huge amount of litigation and waste that has been created because of these insane and morally bankrupt laws.